Gilmore: GOP Needs True Conservative

Republican primary voters need to rally around an authentic conservative presidential candidate before the 2008 nomination is claimed by an ideological imposter, former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore told The Politico Wednesday.

The situation is so dire, Gilmore said, that his home state is in danger of falling to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York or another liberal Democrat in the 2008 election if Republicans don't offer a candidate with the proper conservative message.

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Gilmore spoke to Politico editors and reporters in the first of a series of sessions with Republican candidates in advance of the May 3 GOP Presidential Candidates Debate. The event is being hosted by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in conjunction with MSNBC and Politico.com.

Ten candidates have accepted invitations to participate in the debate, the first of the cycle for Republican presidential candidates. It will air exclusively on cable's MSNBC, with full coverage on MSNBC.com. The Politico will stream the debate live on Politico.com, providing an exclusive and unprecedented opportunity for viewers to ask and vote on questions via the Internet.

On Iraq policy, abortion, tax cuts, immigration and many other issues, Gilmore tried to portray himself as the true conservative in the race, and sought to distinguish himself from a series of better-funded and well-known rivals for the GOP nod.

"I believe that the people who are getting all the media attention are not real conservatives," Gilmore said. He charged that GOP contenders Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani are all, to varying degrees, pale imitations of traditional conservatism who would not reflect the ideals of small government, lower taxes and muscular foreign policy.

And the lack of a true conservative in the race will soon be apparent to Republican primary voters, Gilmore said.

"What they're having to address right now is, do we have to settle" for a something less than a true conservative champion, Gilmore said.

Gilmore, Virginia's governor from 1998 to 2002, is also seeking to separate himself from the cluster of other lesser-known candidates trying to break out of the crowded Republican primary pack. That group includes Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, who is best known for his opposition to abortion, gay marriage and embryonic stem cell research, along with former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson and Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, among others.

Gilmore suggested he is more qualified for the presidency than Brownback, based on his executive experience compared with the senator's focus on "theoretical issues" in Washington.

Gilmore, a former state attorney general and prosecutor in Richmond-based Henrico County, also outlined his views on a series of public policy issues:

-- He defended the enactment of a significant cut in Virginia's car tax during his time in office, a move critics contend has led to deep budget deficits and less money to fix clogged roads. The tax cut properly put more money back in Virginia taxpayers' pockets, Gilmore said.

-- On Iraq, he said President Bush's troop surge must be given time to work in rooting out insurgents and stabilizing that strife-torn country. "The Democrats are wrong with what they're offering," in proposing near-complete troop withdrawal by mid-2008, which would be a "recipe for chaos," he said.

-- Gilmore said border security should be the key for any immigration overhaul package. "I don't believe there should be a path to citizenship automatically," he said. Gilmore also suggested that criminal penalties be imposed for corporations found guilty of hiring illegal aliens, saying: "I think everybody in this country, including the business community," is expected to obey the law.

Like several Republican candidates, Gilmore walked a fine line between supporting Bush, a popular figure with the Republican base, and distancing himself from policies that polls show a majority of Americans find distasteful.

The 2003 invasion of Iraq and toppling of Saddam Hussein may not have been wise, Gilmore suggested.

"I don't know whether we should have done this invasion or not, but we're there now," he said. "It looks to me like other policies might have been followed."

Gilmore is staking his presidential campaign's success on Internet outreach, which he said has the potential to equal the political playing field with the likes of Romney, Giuliani and McCain.

"This is a very unprecedented situation," he said. "We're speaking to people right now over the Internet in a very significant way."

Gilmore, 57, served as chairman of the Republican National Committee during the first year of Bush's presidency. He departed amid squabbling with White House political aide Karl Rove and others. Gilmore said of his departure that he was simply used to acting in an executive capacity rather than a subordinate role, and he was ready to face other professional challenges.

"I think it was time to move on at the end of a year," he said.

Gilmore officially joined the crowded presidential field in January and has lagged far behind in fundraising. His campaign has not yet released his fundraising totals for the first quarter of 2007 but did say recently it expected to raise $200,000 from a single fundraising event.

Jeremy Mayer, professor of public policy and politics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., is dubious about the former governor's presidential chances. Gilmore doesn't have a natural constituency, an identifiable issue to build a successful campaign around or a particularly notable record of achievement as governor of Virginia, Mayer said.

"Jim Gilmore's presidential campaign is one of the longer shots from an established politician," Mayer said. "I don't expect Gilmore to do well, but one other thing he has going for him is that there is no front-runner right now in the Republican race."